Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, Nixon previously served as the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961, having risen to national prominence as a representative and senator from California.
After five years in the White House that saw the conclusion to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, he became the only president to resign from the office, following the Watergate scandal. These Richard Nixon quotes will motivate you.
Best Richard Nixon Quotes
- “Never forget, the press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy. The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “When the President does it, that means that it’s not illegal.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “I was not lying. I said things that later on seemed to be untrue.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “I know you heard what you thought I said, but what I said isn’t what I meant.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Nothing would please the Kremlin more than to have the people of this country choose a second-rate president.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“I didn’t do anything wrong and I promise to never do it again.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another – until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “I don’t think a woman should be in any government job whatever. I mean, I really don’t. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic and emotional.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“Capitalism works better than it sounds, while socialism sounds better than it works.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “[T]here may be some truth in that if the Arabs have some complaints about my policy towards Israel, they have to realize that the Jews in the U. S. control the entire information and propaganda machine, the large newspapers, the motion pictures, radio and television, and the big companies, and there is a force that we have to take into consideration.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “I don’t mind the homosexuality. I understand it. Nevertheless, goddamn, I don’t think you glorify it on public television, homosexuality, even more than you glorify whores. We all know we have weaknesses. But, goddammit, what do you think that does to kids? You know what happened to the Greeks! Homosexuality destroyed them. Sure, Aristotle was a homo. We all know that. So was Socrates.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“The three most difficult words to speak are, “I was wrong.”” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The important thing is that we maintain plausible deniability.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The worst thing a politician can be is dull. At least I’m interesting.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “With all the power that a president has, the most important thing to bear in mind is this: You must not give power to a man unless, above everything else, he has character. Character is the most important qualification the president of the United States can have.” ~ Richard Nixon Quotes
- “If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The press is the enemy.” ~ Richard M. Nixon, Richard Nixon quotes on press
- “You don’t know how to lie. If you can’t lie, you’ll never go anywhere.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Look at the Justice Department, it’s full of Jews…The lawyers in government are damn Jews.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“The Jews are irreligious, atheistic, immoral bunch of bastards.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Any nation that decides the only way to achieve peace is through peaceful means is a nation that will soon be a piece of another nation.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “When the strongest nation in the world can be tied up for years in a war with no end in sight, when the richest nation in the world can’t manage its own economy, when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented lawlessness, and when the President of the United States cannot travel abroad or to any major city at home without fear of a hostile demonstration – then it’s time for new leadership for the United States of America.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time – it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Communism denies God, enslaves men, and destroys justice.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“If the President does it, it can’t be illegal.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word “crisis.” One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“Well, I screwed it up real good, didn’t I?” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The greatness comes not when things go always good for you. But the greatness comes when you’re really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes. Because only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Well, I’m not a crook.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this all while not appearing to.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “I think Congress has spent enough time on ethics. I think it’s time they moved on to something else.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“I would have made a good pope.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The Jewish cabal is out to get me.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Politics would be a helluva good business if it weren’t for the goddamned people.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “They put the Jewish interest above America’s interest and it’s about goddamn time that the Jew in America realizes he’s an American first and a Jew second.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“Publicly, we say one thing….Actually, we do another.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Federal and state laws (should) be changed to no longer make it a crime to possess marijuana for private use.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “We will establish a new system that makes high-quality health care available to every American in a dignified manner and at a price he can afford.” ~ Richard Nixon Quotes
- “Honesty may not be the best policy, but it is worth trying once in a while.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “What we have done with the American Indian is its way as bad as what we imposed on the Negroes. We took a proud and independent race and virtually destroyed them. We have to find ways to bring them back into decent lives in this country.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“Solutions are not the answer.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The peace we seek in the world is not the flimsy peace which is merely an interlude between wars, but a peace which can endure for generations to come. It is important that we understand both the necessity and the limitations of America’s role in maintaining that peace. Unless we in America work to preserve the peace, there will be no peace. Unless we in America work to preserve freedom, there will be no freedom.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Those who hate us only win if we hate them back” ~ Richard M. Nixon, Richard Nixon quotes on hate
- “Being trustworthy is something you are, something you stand for and a core value you live by. It isn’t something you can train for nor is it something you can manipulate. You either have those values or you don’t.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Idealism without realism is impotent. Realism without idealism is immoral.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“What a strange creature man is that he fouls his own nest.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “No president in history has been more vilified or was more vilified during the time he was President than Lincoln. Those who knew him, his secretaries, have written that he was deeply hurt by what was said about him and drawn about him, but on the other hand, Lincoln had the great strength of character never to display it, always able to stand tall and strong and firm no matter how harsh or unfair the criticism might be. These elements of greatness, of course, inspire us all today.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “Baseball without fans is like Jayne Mansfield without a sweater. Hang on, that can be taken two ways.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
-
“People react to fear, not love; they don’t teach that in Sunday School, but it’s true.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “To me, the most unhappy people in the world are the people … in Palm Beach- Going to parties every night. Playing golf every afternoon, then bridge. [They have] no purpose.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Sampson’s time.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “I’m not at liberty to discuss the governments knowledge of extraterrestrial UFO’s at this time. I am still personally being briefed on the subject!” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “You find out who your true friends are not when you are on top of the world, but when the world is on top of you.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
